The fanfare is back at the door of Tiger Woods. Rory McIlroy is enjoying the shelter. A year ago McIlroy arrived at this championship skewered by the first rush of global celebrity. His immolation of the Congressional record books to win the US Open at 21 was a story that proved uncontainable. He had only to turn up at Royal St George's three weeks later to perform a similar act of alchemy, or so the fantasy went. The British summer and the hoary intuition of a links general – Darren Clarke – punched a hole in that and forced upon McIlroy's plate a different kind of experience to digest.

In recent weeks the game has imposed a further correction on his
game. Four missed cuts in six events leading up to Lytham has had a
cooling effect, which might yet serve McIlroy well this week. He
has matured sufficiently to recognise his Kentish outburst a year
ago as an act of petulance and no longer wishes to be associated
with the idea that he is above changing to meet the demands of this
great championship.

"Those comments were just pure frustration. Having really high
expectations going into it, coming off a major win, really wanting
to play well, get into contention and not doing that, was tough.
And blaming the weather, blaming the draw, blaming my luck,
basically, was just frustration. Looking back on it a year later, I
just didn't play well enough to get into contention and didn't
handle the conditions as I could have. That's something that I'm
trying to do more of and I felt like I did that to some degree at
Portrush, felt like I played well in the bad conditions. And if
it's like that again this week, you're just going to have to
knuckle down and focus and keep fighting to try to shoot a
score."

Well said young man. McIlroy arrived on the Fylde Coast last
week and spent the weekend mapping a way around the bunkers and the
rough. He did the same at Royal St George's but not without an
elaborate deception, subsequently exposed. Here he had Graeme
McDowell and open space for company. "Yeah, it's been great, lovely
just going about my business. It's been nice to prepare and
definitely not with the madness that was going on last year. I've
tried to keep it as low key as possible. I feel like I've done that
pretty well. I went for dinner on Sunday night. Obviously people
still come up and want photos and stuff. But the commotion was
definitely not as bad as it was this time last year."

McIlroy under the radar is something of a paradox but helpful.
The weather has also kept the crowds away during the practice days.
He is, of course, only one low round from a return to hyperbole.
The absurd idea that McIlroy is too reckless, too careless, too
aggressive to work out a links course could be in the bin by
Thursday night. This bloke has the talent to rip any track to
pieces. Every career meets a corrective at some stage. This is a
recurring phenomenon in golf.

Bad form invites a different kind of scrutiny. Myth does not
allow for off days. Our ideas of greatness are too exacting to
permit even the slightest error. Only perfection will do.

McIlroy was a classic victim of his own spectacular achievement.
Inexperience fed a series of injudicious remarks that subsequently
cost him when form dipped. He is still feeling the effects of
that.

"Is your eye back on the ball?" he was asked. "I think so, yes."
And further: "Are there any other distractions?" "There never were
any distractions."

The manner of his response turned that line of inquiry into a
cul-de-sac. McIlroy was irritated but in control, a notable advance
on a year ago. Of greater relevance and interest was the one-ball
tip he picked up from Jack Nicklaus. To simulate tournament
conditions Nicklaus would hit only one ball instead of two or three
shots into a green during practice rounds. McIlroy is an
enthusiastic supporter of the practice.

"On Sunday I played the last 13 holes with one ball, and before
that on Friday afternoon I played the back nine with one ball. For
the last couple of days I've played the last four holes with one
ball and had bets with Michael [Bannon, coach], my dad and JP [his
caddie], trying to shoot a score for the last few holes." And?
"Friday I shot 4 under on the back nine with one ball, which was
good. Yesterday my target was to shoot 1 under and I did that, so
won a coffee off JP. And today I didn't go so well, shot 1 over for
the last four holes."

The exchange was a sweet vignette revealing a sense of calm that
all the top pros strive to create. The link with Nicklaus is the
kind of touch that keeps the McIlroy narrative bobbing along until
the next big win, maintaining by association his link to the gods
of this game. "It was definitely good advice, especially if you
haven't played a tournament in a week or two. It gets you back into
that competitive frame of mind. You're seeing shots and focusing on
targets. Because sometimes when you're at a practice round you're
just trying to see the course, and sometimes you're just going
through the motions. It's good to really focus and try to shoot a
few scores."

The rain swept in again by mid-afternoon yesterday, which acts
as a climatic bomb-disposal device, softening the course and
diminishing the degree of difficulty. From this distance,
tomorrow's afternoon starters are thought to have the better of the
opening day, with dry spells forecast. McIlroy has been under a
cloud since the spring. How beautiful the symmetry would be were
his form and the sun to return simultaneously, a double starburst
over Lytham, you might say.

Rory's Open record

2007 Tied 42nd as the leading amateur at
Carnoustie, after having a share of third after the opening
day.

2009 After missing the 2008 event, McIlroy tied
47th at Turnberry.

2010 Finished tied third at St Andrews' after
opening with a storming nine-under par 63 to lead on day one.

2011 Tied for 25th at Sandwich, falling away over
the last two rounds.